Ephesians 4:7-16 says

"But to each one of us grace was given according to the
measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says:

“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men."

(Now this,
"He ascended"—what
does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?
He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He
might fill all things.)

And He Himself gave some
to beapostles,someprophets,someevangelists,
and some pastors and
teachers, for the
equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning
craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up
in all things into Him who is the head — Christ — from whom the whole body,
joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the
effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body
for the edifying of itself in love.

The very first truth we should grasp out of these
verses is that the the equipping gifts of Jesus Christ that are given to train believers
for the work of ministry here in the earth are not needed in heaven.
This is why it says in the text that He "gave gifts to men (
"anth'-ro-pos"-mankind; specifically the body of
Christ.)"

In other words Jesus took the totality of who He
was from the aspect of being a disciple maker or equipper and divided this gift
up into five general areas. While there is some overlap as Peter, John and
Paul all wrote some prophetic passages; the fact that Paul needed a thorn
in the flesh to keep from being "exalted above
measure" should clearly
convey the truth that corruptible man cannot hold more than one aspect of the
equipping ministry of Christ in their earthen vessel. In other words
some have been given one gift and some
have been given a different gift.

An example of this is that without exception
every
true
apostolic minister that I've known freely admits that they are not very good
pastors and while they can lead others to Christ; the anointing on an apostle to
lead others to Christ and to teach others how to do this is no where near the
anointing for these things that an evangelist walks in.

While were on the subject; a false perception
that seems to permeate through traditional church culture is that a pastor by virtue of his heart for the people should
take a lead or senior role.

We should earnestly examine this assumption as the heart
of "the Good Shepherd" beats just as strongly in each aspect of Christ's
equipping gifts. Clearly there are times when the needs of the people are
better served by a pastor, and yet there are times when the people need the
anointing of an evangelist to equip them as well.

Setting aside how these gifts function I want to
break down the text a little differently to help illustrate what each gift is
for.

And He Himself gave some
to beapostles, -
for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry

And He Himself gave some
to be prophets, -
for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry

And He Himself gave some
to be evangelists, - for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry

And He Himself gave some
to be pastors, -
for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry

And He Himself gave some
to be teachers, -
for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry

While I know that this is a redundant way of
illustrating this; hopefully this point is made clearer this way: While an
evangelist has a clear anointing to harvest souls into the kingdom of God; they
were given by the Lord to equip their brothers and sister in Christ to harvest
souls in the field of the Lord..

1. Jesus as our advocate is now in heaven

2. Jesus gave equipping gifts to some in the body

3. Jesus gave His ministry of reconciliation to ALL in the body

that togetherwe would be a
"measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ"

*NOTE: In order to nurture a truer expression
of the
"fullness of Christ" we need to clearly understand that Jesus Himself
imparts ministry to each believer and that the vision for this ministry comes
from Christ alone. As we take the time to nurture an intimate relationship
with Christ; the uniqueness of this bond will serve to birth a distinctive
anointing for everything that the Father has purposed for you to accomplish in
your lifetime.

Rather than attempt to define the boundaries of each aspect of the five fold
ministry; I believe it would be more helpful to simply give a short list of how
Christ operated in each area.

I also want to stress in this that I personally do not believe that even in the midst of what is written here; I do not
have the right or authority to define the boundaries of another minister; I can
only put forth a framework of accountability as a plea to see the increase of
Christ's government among His flock.

Again, Jesus as the Head of the Body took the equipping / discipleship gifts
that He operated in during His earthly ministry and imparted them to men and
women so that they might equip others for ministry as well; so it is Christ
alone who defines each gifting.

As you prayerfully consider these examples; I hope you will
realize how critically important it is in these last days forALLof these equipping gifts to be present in the body of Christ and working
together to prepare the Lord's sanctified army for the battle ahead.

Vision

Having been very exacting
concerning the role of women in relation to leadership roles, it is time to
broaden the discussion. Very simply every believer has a priestly role to
walk in. Young & old, male & female, new convert & seasoned
believer, --- every believer has a "ministry
of reconciliation" to walk out --- there are no exceptions.

Every ministry will
not come as the result of some majestic vision,
but rather they will be acts of the Holy Spirit as each of us seek the Lord --
willing to serve others.

When we consider vision and
how it relates to five-fold ministry, this next statement would seem to make no
sense at all. Yet the five-fold ministry is responsible for imparting
doctrine and direction (the Testimony) to the body of Christ, they are not
responsible for imparting vision. Vision comes through Jesus.

As equipping ministries labor
in the Lord's vineyard prevailing faith is impart to believers through the
hearing of the Word of God. As a result of this sound doctrine and
direction begins to take shape in the hearts of God's people and they receive
vision from the Holy Spirit. This is how disciples are prepared for "the work of ministry"that Christ has given to them.

What then is"the
work of ministry" given by the Lord to all believers and
five-fold ministers? The bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 - "Now
all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ,
and has given usthe ministry of reconciliation that is, that God
was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to
them, and has committed to usthe word of reconciliation.Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading
through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God."

In short Jesus Christ has given usthe ministry of reconciliation and hascommitted to usthe word of reconciliation.

So then, the calling of every
believer is as "ambassadors"
for Christ, and our "ministry"
is the "reconciliation" of a lost and dying world
to the Creator of all things (Yahweh) through His Son; our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ.

We must understand that there
were two commissions given by the Lord after His resurrection. The one
recorded in Matthew 28:18-20, we are all familiar with. It reads "And
Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has
been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all
the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and
lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

This 'commission' has been given
to every believer.

We are also familiar with the
second commission, given to all aspects of biblical governance; however most of
us have never recognized it as such.

In the last chapter of the gospel
of John the Lord gave Peter some instructions or a commission. In John 21:15-19 the
bible says - "So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than
these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You
know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My
lambs.” He said to him again a second time,
“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes,
Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend
My sheep.” He said to him the third time,“Simon,
son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said
to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love
You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. Most
assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked
where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and
another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This
He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken
this, He said to him,
“Follow Me.”